


part 2: someone’s gotta make it right

by batyatoon



Series: never saw it coming [2]
Category: Gargoyles (TV), Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Crossover, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 07:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batyatoon/pseuds/batyatoon





	part 2: someone’s gotta make it right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ariestess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariestess/gifts).



Three and a half minutes in, the conversation in the office couldn’t quite be called an _argument_ yet, but it was getting there.  Captain Maza -- Elisa Maza, according to the nameplate on her desk; fiftyish, mixed-race, with iron-gray hair clipped short and a piercing stare -- had clearly been irked with them before they walked in, and that didn’t look like it was changing anytime soon.

Officer Fisch had been right about one thing, though.

“Look, of course I know what really happened last spring in Times Square, everybody knows.  Why do you think the city’s still funding your operation?  This town needs you.”  Maza leaned forward and flattened her hands on the desk.  “But you can’t go around assuming every non-human you see in this town is a ghost.”

“I know what we saw,” Erin insisted.  “There is no way those were anything but a couple of Class 4 apparitions.”

“Okay, I’ll grant you they were a lot more solid-looking than your standard Class 4,” Abby put in, “but they set off all the PKE meters, and come on, if _you_ saw two translucent figures riding _across the surface_ of the Pond, on horseback, with these glowing white eyes --”

“Hold up,” said Patty, turning to her, “the horses had glowing eyes or the riders?”

“... Oh,  the riders.  Um, I mean they both did --”

“Right, right, I gotcha.”

“-- but the riders is what I meant --”

“What you _saw_ ,” Maza cut her off, exasperated, “and just by the way what you _shot at_ , was the mostly human kid of a couple of friends of mine.  American citizen and New York City resident, very much among the living ... getting in touch with his grandma’s side of the family.”  The last phrase came out with a slightly sour spin, perfectly audible in the abrupt stricken silence.

 

 

“But,” Erin half-whispered, and didn’t get any further.  Captain Maza took a good few seconds to distribute a hard glare around at all of them before continuing, in a somewhat lower voice.

“The second rider was a cousin of his from out of town, and it’s a damn good thing they weren’t about five yards closer together when you opened fire on them, because it means you only hit the one who could shrug it off.  If you’d hit the mostly human one, you probably know better than I do what it woulda done to him, but somehow I don’t think it’d be good.”

Another short silence ensued.

“Now, you say _mostly_ human,” said Patty at length, carefully calm, “and I gotta ask, do we even wanna know about the not-mostly part?”

“Oh _hell_ yeah,” breathed Holtzmann, eyes alight.

Maza’s glance at Holtzmann was a peculiar variation on the usual look; Abby found herself warily classifying the additional factor as amusement.  “I’d love to tell you,” she said, “but the victim hasn’t said yet whether or not they want to press charges, and if they don’t, we’re going to protect their privacy.  On that and other issues.”

“Of course,” said Erin, hurried and earnest, trying hard to project _mature trustworthy adult_. “We completely understand.”

“I hope you do.”  Maza eyed her with what looked like slightly more favor.  “And I hope you all understand why you need to take better precautions on identifying ghosts.  I don’t wanna get a call next time telling me you all tried to ghost-trap a gargoyle or something.”

“Oh come on, no,” Abby protested, “that would never happen, a gargoyle doesn’t ping a PKE meter anything _like_ a ghost.”

“Unless it’s the ghost of a gargoyle,” Holtzmann put in, cheerful, somewhere between helpful and heckling.

Erin glanced at her, struck by the idea.  “Which, didn’t the ghost at the theater last year sort of look like one?  I mean ghosts can look like anything, but, with the wings --”

“Uh-uh,” said Patty adamantly, “nope. I have _seen_ gargoyles and that is _not_ what one looks like.”

Maza’s lips pursed, a faintly guarded expression.  “You do know they all look different, right?”

“Yeah, but you ever see one of em all glowing green and see-through?  Cause --”  Patty broke off, her hand frozen halfway through a gesture; her eyes narrowed at the captain, flicked down to the nameplate on the desk and back up again.

Abby threw Erin an unnerved glance; Erin fielded it right back to her, with an added I-don’t-know shake of her head.

“Waaait,” Patty said, much lower and with dawning speculation, “hold up one second, are you … are you _that_ Elisa Maza?”

The captain sat back, eyebrows lifting.  “That depends.  Which _that_ Elisa Maza are you thinking?”

“So if I said ‘Twenty-third Precinct station house,’ ‘clock tower’, and ‘October 1996,’” Patty started -- and Holtzmann, eyes widening, sat up straight in her chair for the first time since they’d entered the office.

Very slowly, Maza started to smile.  “I’d say you’ve done your homework, Ms. Tolan.”

“Damn,” Patty marveled, beaming.  “Yeah, I read about how gargoyles first showed up in this town, but you were _there!_  I mean, you _knew_ them, that’s -- uh, know them?”

“Present tense,” Maza confirmed, with a dry edge to her smile.  “And yeah, that’s maybe the _other_ reason I don’t want you assuming everything nonhuman in this city is a ghost.  We clear?”

 


End file.
